Government | Wednesday 15 June, 2016 8:22 am |

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman has ordered that 2,628 male and female Saudi students studying on their own in US universities be included in the foreign scholarship program.

This was announced by Deputy Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, second deputy premier and minister of defense, during an interaction with Saudi students studying in the US.

The King’s decision shows his keenness to meet the needs of Saudi citizens, said the Deputy Crown Prince.

The US is the first choice of Saudi students pursuing higher studies abroad under the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques’ Foreign Scholarship Program.
The US makes up 30 percent of the total students and it is followed by Britain with 15 percent, Canada 11 percent and Australia 8 percent.

There are 84,012 Saudi scholarship students in the US. The total number of Saudi men and women studying in universities across the US exceeds 120,000. These include scholarship students and those accompanying them as well students doing their courses at their own expenses, in addition to government employees sent on scholarships.

There are 36 initiatives to develop education in the newly unveiled National Transformation Program. These initiatives include a program to develop the Foreign Scholarship Program and improve its operational efficiency with an allocation of SR48 million.

Under the scholarship program, young Saudis are pursuing studies in as many as 35 countries. The Kingdom has spent a total of SR22.5 billion on this program during the past fiscal year. Among the scholarship students, 15 percent pursue studies in medicine and medical sciences, 14 percent in computer and IT, 10 percent in engineering, and 26 percent in economics, business and administration.